Another year full of cockerels....

[jspeese]

I've experienced the same thing myself. It may be temperature dependent. I love seeing babies with their mothers, but I don't hatch my own chicks for that very reason. I'll admit that I've been spoiled by the modern broiler industry and by comparison, roosters that aren't broilers aren't worth eating. Even large breeds are more bone than meat and IMHO aren't worth raising. Roosters are beautiful and if I accidentally get one in an order of "pullet" chicks, I will usually keep him because he is nice to have around. But if you have more than one, they begin fighting as they get older if hens are around. Again in my opinion, if you want a sustainable meat bird, ducks are the way to go. You get a much better meat to bone ratio and in hatching my own ducklings, I seem to get close to a 50/50 duck to drake ratio. As for chicks, I prefer to get pullet chicks whenever I want to start a new flock.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Geez this thread really took off. I guess I'm not the only one with this cockerel issue.

Good news is the three satins I bought, 2 of them appear to be pullets. Cross your fingers!!

This cockerel issue has been going on for 8,000 years since humans first domesticated red jungle fowl.
They have always hatched at about a 50:50 ratio. That's is likely because roosters give themselves up to predators in an effort to save the flock. Then there will be another waiting in the wings to be flock guard and breeder.

Another very cool thing IMO about chickens is that they can retain viable sperm at body temperature for about a month. So even if all adult males are killed, Hens can still go off, lay a clutch and hatch more cockerels.

I've experienced the same thing myself. It may be temperature dependent. I love seeing babies with their mothers, but I don't hatch my own chicks for that very reason. I'll admit that I've been spoiled by the modern broiler industry and by comparison, roosters that aren't broilers aren't worth eating. Even large breeds are more bone than meat and IMHO aren't worth raising. Roosters are beautiful and if I accidentally get one in an order of "pullet" chicks, I will usually keep him because he is nice to have around. But if you have more than one, they begin fighting as they get older if hens are around. Again in my opinion, if you want a sustainable meat bird, ducks are the way to go. You get a much better meat to bone ratio and in hatching my own ducklings, I seem to get close to a 50/50 duck to drake ratio. As for chicks, I prefer to get pullet chicks whenever I want to start a new flock.

The only thing that is temperature dependent is survivability. If one alters ideal temperature, all they are doing is lowering hatch rate. It may be possible that one gender or another may be able to survive extreme high or low temperatures during incubation which may result in a different ratio. But that doesn't mean temperature affects resulting gender. It only means that fewer chicks are hatching.



It confuses me that another poster conflated human abortion with using improper temperature in the incubator/hatcher to obtain more of one gender or another.

 

[Matilda Belle]

This cockerel issue has been going on for 8,000 years since humans first domesticated red jungle fowl.
They have always hatched at about a 50:50 ratio. That's is likely because roosters give themselves up to predators in an effort to save the flock. Then there will be another waiting in the wings to be flock guard and breeder.

I could only hope for a 50:50 ratio in my hatches. lol

 

[sandy sea]

Were they supposed to be sexed? Tractor Supply sells them for sexed for just a few dollars...

I also bought from Tractor Supply in Missouri. 15 pullets only, in April {ya right, out of the 15, I can see that at least 4 are roosters} That is not fair.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I also bought from Tractor Supply in Missouri. 15 pullets only, in April {ya right, out of the 15, I can see that at least 4 are roosters} That is not fair.

It is a pain. But the ability to properly sex hatchlings is a skill that takes many years to perfect. I don't think there are enough people with that level of skill to man all the hatcheries around the globe. If you think about the egg industry, someone has to sex and cull about 8 billion cock chicks a year.
Some retail hatcheries don't even bother trying to sex bantams because it is just too difficult.
If you think about it, they have to pick up each chick, squeeze out some feces in an attempt to peer deeply into the cloaca and find an almost nonexistent sex organ.

 

[igorsMistress]

So if the goal is to hatch a higher ratio of one sex over another and we acknowledge we can't change the sex of the embryo, altering the temperature (if that even works) is doing nothing more than killing the embryos of one sex in the shell. What's the difference in that and killing them after they hatch?
Apples to apples.

It doesn't result in the death of the embryos in shell, apples to zucchini.

The theory is if there's a lower temperature at the beginning of hatch or the temp is at the lower end of the acceptable range during hatch, more pullets will hatch. Something like that.

Most peeps don't realize that these cockerels aren't simply going to the trash...

They get shipped out for use in zoos and wildlife rehab centers. They also get put into animal feeds and such.

The hatcheries don't really seem to have an issue with what to do with male chicks. It's mostly the misinformed public who has seen chick grinding videos that are raising a stink because they choose to focus on one aspect instead of looking at the big picture.... That's what chicken meal in dog and cat food is.

My guess is any eggs discarded would end up with the same fate and be called egg byproduct or something to that effect.

ETA: they are also used in agriculture fertilizers.

I read an article that specifically mentioned the egg industry, they have an interest in hatching only or mostly females for obvious reasons. The males would end up in the fridge at the grocery as eggs still. The eggs would be DNA tested without damaging them.

As for all the rest, truth or lie the perception is out there. I see both sides of the argument. I love animals, but we're not vegan and neither are my animals, not even the chickens.

 

[closipov]

if U need eggs, I will send u some...I have 76 hens & 5 Roos. Wish i had more roos. if nothing else chicken stew.

I wish you were closer I would give you 2 roos. They are not mean and very handsome. I would love eggs in the spring. I hatch them in my classroom and then bring them home to live. 2 years ago I hatched 6 eggs and they were all hens.

 

[closipov]

This cockerel issue has been going on for 8,000 years since humans first domesticated red jungle fowl.
They have always hatched at about a 50:50 ratio. That's is likely because roosters give themselves up to predators in an effort to save the flock. Then there will be another waiting in the wings to be flock guard and breeder.

Another very cool thing IMO about chickens is that they can retain viable sperm at body temperature for about a month. So even if all adult males are killed, Hens can still go off, lay a clutch and hatch more cockerels.


The only thing that is temperature dependent is survivability. If one alters ideal temperature, all they are doing is lowering hatch rate. It may be possible that one gender or another may be able to survive extreme high or low temperatures during incubation which may result in a different ratio. But that doesn't mean temperature affects resulting gender. It only means that fewer chicks are hatching.



It confuses me that another poster conflated human abortion with using improper temperature in the incubator/hatcher to obtain more of one gender or another.

Each time the local fox wondered by he grabbed a hen. The 3 roos didn't save my girls or the guineas that are suppose to be the protector. Do I have wimpy roos?

 

[igorsMistress]

Each time the local fox wondered by he grabbed a hen. The 3 roos didn't save my girls or the guineas that are suppose to be the protector. Do I have wimpy roos?

No, roos will usually sound the alarm and lead the flock to cover, not stand and face a predator.

 

[tamgunny]

I read somewhere one time that the cockerel egg can not withstand colder temps as a pullet. So I tried this, I pulled the eggs that I wanted to hatch set them aside, after about four days I put them under my hen And out of 12 eggs seven hatched. I have one Cockerel out of all of them.